Draft appliance for railway-vehicles



W. AND J. KELSO. DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES.'

Patented 'July 13, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET- 3 APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, 1920.

51 mnmtow W. AND J. KELSO.

DRAFT APPUANSE FUR RAILWAY VEHICLES.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

amma dot Patented July 13, 1920.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30. I920.

Wbtneoo r-ricn.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM KELSO AND JOSEPH KELSO, F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE MGCONVAY 86 TOELEY COMPANY, 01* PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 015 PENNSYLVANIA.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY-VEHICLES.

1,34%,5 15. Specification of Letters Patent. P t t d J l 13 1.920

Application filed March 30, 1920. Serial No. 389,933. To all whom it may concern: 7 Fig. l is a vertical central section of the Be it known that we, WILLIAM KnLso and coupler. Josnrrr Knnsmcitizens of the United States, Fig. is a transverse section on the line residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Alle- 5- 5, Fig. 1. 5 gheny and State of Pennsylvania, have in in the drawings, 1 indicates the stem of vented certain new and useful Improvements the coupler and 2 is the coupler head. The in Draft Appliances for Railway-Vehicles; coupler head is pivotally mounted upon the and we do hereby declare the following to be forward end of the coupler stem, preferably a full, clear, and exact description of the by means of a vertically extending pivot pin 10 invention, such as will enable others skilled 3 which, as shown, may conveniehtlV be in the art to which it ,appertains to make and sorted from below so as to be downwardly use th Same, removable. As a means for permitting the Our invention relates to the construction coupler to be attached to a railway vehicle of draft appliances for railway vehicles and so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, 15 particularly to that class of car couplers in the coupler stem is preferably provided near which the coupler head is pivotally mounted its rear end with a pivot pin opening 4. which upon the coupler stem and wherein the latter is adapted to receive the usual tail pin (not is designed to be attached to the railway veshown) commonly employed to connect the hicle in such manner as to be capable of a coupler to the draft rigging. The coupler 20 lateral swinging movement. The primary stem, which is of bifurcated form, may be obj ect of the invention is to provide a constructed of upper and lower similar coupler of this type with simple and durable plates or bar members 5 between the rear means for efliciently centralizing; the coupler ends of which a spacer 6 is interposed. The head with respect to the coupler stem and plate members 5 and the intervening spacer 25 for centralizing the coupler stem with re- 6 are rigidly secured together by a rivet 8, spect to the body of the car or other railway and the forward ends of these plates may vehicle upon which the coupler is mounted. also be united by a rivet 9. At their forward A further object of the invention is so to ends the plates 5 are provided with suitable construct and combine the several elements alined pivot pin openings 10 for the recep- 30 of t is mechanism that they may be readily tion of the pivot pin 8. r r

' assembled and disassembled, thereby facili- The coupler rests upon a carry iron 11 tating the renewal of any parts which may which may be attached to the center sills be worn out or damaged in service. or draft sills of the car in any usual or preln the drawii'igsillustrating the best form ferred way. 35 in which we contemplate applying the prin- Mounted between the upper and lower bars ciple of our invention, the scope whereof 1s or plates 5 so as to be capable of reciprocatpointed out in the claims,-- ing in the direction of length of the coupler Figure 1 is a view, partly in plan and stem 1, is a slide 13 which is preferably partly in horizontal section, of a car coupler fashioned as a unitary frame having on its 40 embodying the invention, the adjacent poropposite sides upper and lower guide flanges tion of a car underframe being; also shown 1 1 between which the corresponding plates in order to exhibit the relation of the coupler 5 of the coupler stem are received. The forthereto. ward end of the slidable frame 13 is provided Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the car coupler on opposite sides of the pivot pin 3 with 45 illustrated in 1, the forward end of the shoulders or abutments 15 which are adapted coupler head being); broken away. to engage and cooperate with correspond- Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the ingly disposed shoulders 16 upon the coupler coupler in 'a laterally displaced position head 2. When, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the showing the relations assumed by the parts coupler head swings with respect to the 50 and also illustrating the neighboring porcoupler stem 1, one or the other of the abuttions of the car underframe. ments 16, depending upon the direction in,

' its rear face-with aprojection or lug 19 for the forward end hereinafter which the coupler head turns, presses upon the neighboring abutment of the slide 13 and thus forces the latter rearwardly. The rear end of the slide 13 bears against a follower 17 which, in turn, is seated upon the forward end of a longitudinally extending spring 18 whose other end abuts the filler block or spacer member 6 of the coupler stem. It will thus beseen that the rearward movement of the slide 13 induced by a rotation of the coupler head 2 upon its pivot pin 3 causes a corresponding rearward movement of the follower 17 and results in com pressing the spring 18. As soon as the force causing the lateral displacement of the coupler head from its normal or centralized position ceases to act, the spring 18 will expand, thereby forcing the follower 17 and slide 13 forwardly and restoring the coupler head to its centralized position with respect to the coupler stem, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The follower'l? is preferably provided on maintaining the spring 18 in position, and

of the spacer 6 of the coupler stem is also preferably provided with flanges 20 for a similar purpose. As will appear, the follower 17 when functioning in the centralization ofthe coupler stem with respect to the car has a reciprocating movement relative to the slidable frame 13. In order to insure that the follower shall perform this sliding movement without binding it is preferred to provide it with longitudinally extending guides 21 which are adapted to engage and have extended contact with the upper and lower plates 5 of the coupler stern and also with the inner faces of the guide flanges 14 of the slidable frame." By extending the guides 21 rearwardly a suflicient distance so that they will come in contact with the forward end of the filler member .6 of the coupler stem when the spring 18 has reached any desired limit of compression, injury to the spring due to over compression may be prevented.

The slidable member 13, which for the V sake of lightness may conveniently be made of skeleton form and bifurcated at its rear end, is provided with an elongated slot 22 affording clearance for the rivet 9 and also preferably has a vertically extending post or column 23tying its upper and lowerportions together. Pivotally mounted upon opposite sides of the slide 13 near its rear end, as for example by means of pivot pins 2 1 fashioned as rivets, is a pair of overlapping inde pendently rotatable bell-crank levers 25 whose'adjacentshorter arms 26 are adapted to engage and actuate the follower 17, the outer ends of their forwardly extending longer arms 27 being adapted to contact the 7 center sills or draftsills' 12 or other suitable portion of thecar. Being mounted upon the slide 13 the pivotal points or pivotal axes of the levers 25 partake of the movement of the slide when the latter reciprocates upon the coupler stem 1 in response to movements of the coupler head 2, the levers thus floating with the slide and being always ready, in the normal position of the coupler, toact upon the follower 17 without lost motion to effect a compression of the spring 18 upon the coupler being displaced laterally from its centralized position.

The operation of the mechanism in centralizing the coupler stem 1 with respectto the car will be readily understood from Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings. When the coupler is in its normal position in the longitudinal axis of the car, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the

forwardly extending long arms 27 of the levers 25 are held in contact with the center sills or draft sills 12 bythe pressure of the spring 18 acting through the intermediacy of the follower 17. vVhen the car passes around a curve in the track the coupler swings oris displacedlaterally from its normal position. This displacement of the stem 1 of the coupler causes, as shown in Fig. 3, one or the other of the levers 25, depending upon the direction in which the coupler swings, to turn upon its force the follower 17 rearwardly,thus effecting a compression of the spring 18 corresponding to the extent of lateral displacement of the coupler stem. Upon the withdrawal of the force causing the stem of, the coupler to be displaced from its normal positionin the longitudinal axis of the car, the expansion of the spring 18, operating through the. follower l7 and the lever 25 which has actuated the follower, restores the coupler stem to centralizedposition. *It will be understood of'ccurse that the operations of centering the coupler stem with respect to the car and of centering the coupler head with respect to the stem, although they have been herein separately described, may and usually do occur simultaneously.

' e claim V g 1. In a railway draft appliance, the compivot pin 24 and bination with a coupler having a head and V stem and which is adapted to be connected sides of the longitudinal axis of said stem and'each adapted-to energize said spring.

2. Ina railway draft appliance, the combination with stem and whichis adapted to be connected to a'railway vehicleso as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of means. mounted on said stem for normally maintaining the lat a coupler having ahead and ter in. centralized position, said means involving a spring, and a plurality of pivotally mounted members having spaced pivotal axes and each adapted independently to energize said spring.

3. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler having a head and stem and which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of means mounted on said stem for normally maintaining the latter in centralized position, said means involving a spring, a follower adapted to energize said spring, and a plurality of pivotally mounted members having spaced pivotal axes and each adapted independently to energize said spring.

4. In a railway draft appliance, the com bination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally connected to said stem, means for centralizing said stem with respect to the railway vehicle, and means for centralizing said head with respect to said stem, each of said means involving in common a spring and a follower which is movable to energize said spring when said stem is displaced laterally in either direction from its centralized position and also when said head is displaced laterally in either direction from its normal position with respect to said stem.

5. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally connected to said stem, means for centralizing said stem with respect to the railway vehicle, and means for centralizing said head with respect to said stem, each of said means involving in common a spring extending in the direction of length of said stem and a follower which is movable to energize said spring when said stem is displaced laterally from its centralized position and also when said. head is displaced laterally with respect to said stem.

(3. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally connected to said stem, a spring mounted upon said stem, means engaging and adapted to move one end of said spring to energize the same when said stem is displaced laterally in either direction from its centralized position, and

means engaging and adapted to move sal head with respect to said stem,

end of said spring to energize the same when said head is displaced laterally in either direction with respect to said stem.

7. In a railway draft appliance, the combin ation with coupler stem which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally connected to said stein, a spring mounted upon said stem, a slide mounted on said stem and adapted to be actuated to cause said spring to be energized upon a pivotal movement of said and lever mechanism carried by said slide and adapt ed to cause said spring to be energized when said stem is displaced laterally from its centralized position.

8. In a railway. draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally mounted upon said stem, a spring mounted on said stem, a slide mounted to reciprocate longitudinally on said stem and adapted to he actuated when said head is displaced from its centralized position with respect to said stem, and a plurality of levers mounted upon said slide and adapted to be actuated to cause a compression of said spring when said stem is displaced laterally from its centralized position.

9. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapt ed to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally mounted upon said stem, means for centralizing said stem with respect to the railway vehicle, and means for centralizing said head with respect to said stem, said means for centralizing said stem involving a plurality of levers having floating pivotal axes.

10. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stem which is adapted to be connected to a railway vehicle so as to swing laterally with respect thereto, of a coupler head pivotally mounted on said stem, means for centralizing saidhead with respect to said stem, and means for centralizing said stem with respect to the railway vehicle, said last named means involving a spring mounted upon and extending in the direction of length of said stem, and a plurality of overlapping levers having spaced pivotal axes.

In testimony whereof we afiiX our signatures.

WILLIAM KELSO. JOSEPH KELSO. 

